The plan was simple. Mel would guard Tony and watch his back. Tony would kill the golems with some sort of Wizard spell. He didn’t know how a dwarf would be able to cast magic like that, so he had asked. The answer was rather surprising.

“Magic is universal. Sure you might have your own types available to you on account of your species and all, but most spells are available to anyone who learns. I could probably teach you a couple tricks if you want.”

In the week he had to prepare, Mel spent a solid chunk of it practicing a breathing exercise that would improve the flow of mana in his body. That, Tony had told him, would not only make him capable of casting magic but would also improve his health over all. It was incredibly generous of him to teach Mel for free, but he was certain he would be paying him back today.

Talio wasn’t happy with it at all. But neither was he willing to stop his beloved son. And Talio very clearly loved his son. Beyond dragging him by his hair, he had proven nothing but dedicated to his son’s safety and happiness. Half the fight had been Tony turning down increasingly desperate offers from his father, despite the amazing opportunity. One of the artifacts offered was genuinely comparable in value to the city. Tony had simply shook his head.

Mel understood it perfectly. It was exactly how he felt about travelling. The end result was important, but the process was essential. So they set out. Tony refused every offer of guards and soldiers his Carver offered, stating simply that he couldn’t let his accomplishment be won by his family. Which left the two of them to take on a massive crablike city that had mined out a cavern larger than Langston, and turned it into an army. The actual crab wasn’t as big as a human city, those being sprawling jumbles with unclear lines. But it was certainly beyond the scope of a town.

Mel’s cloak created a soundproofing suit, while Tony simply clutched his hands over his head. They walked through a series of silent tunnels. The little golems should be sluggish without the city giving them directions. The cavern of the city had expanded further, in spite of the constant growth of the stone around it. Here the leylines would be smaller and drained from the golems presence, so it made sense the earth would take longer to replenish itself.

That’s how Tony explained it, but it still didn’t make sense to Mel how the rock grew back. And the correlation of magic being used up preventing the stone from growing back faster. It wasn’t crucial to the mission though. Tony led him to a cliff that descended into the dimly lit cavern, only lit up by the small lights a portion of the golems had. Some were made to serve as guides for the others, most of the time having some sort of light to see by. A small portion used sound to find their way, and that sounded almost as unrealistic as stone growing.

The massive fires and lights that had been on the city the first time he had seen it were all gone, a few dim lights revealing it’s rough form. Seeing that sound wouldn’t be a weapon against them, Mel changed his cloak back to it’s normal form. A drifting sway of leaves and colors.

Tony raised an eyebrow, but otherwise stayed silent. They wanted to avoid attracting attention for as long as possible. The spell would kill all the golems that got close, but Tony wouldn’t have enough mana if he had to use it constantly. The goal was to get halfway before alerting any of them. Mel shimmied down a rope beside Tony. It was a rather pleasant descent.

The landing was rather rough, as Mel landed on an oddly smooth surface. He glanced down with utter dread. A small plate of metal rested on the floor of the cave. Not a golem. He let out a nervous breath, hands shaking a bit. He could have died if that was one the crabs.

A moment later they were quietly walking to the forge golem. A bit of a small word. It felt like calling a mountain a hill because it had grass on it. Mel watched carefully for any sign of one the perceptive ones shining their lights on them. The way seemed clear, the path unhindered. That was obviously a bad sign. Things didn’t just go this well.

But it did. They made it a bit past the halfway marker before they encountered a golem, and Tony killed it silently in seconds. A cloud of what looked like light blue dust flared around him, glowing softly, and the golem simply stopped working. They marched ever closer.

The sound of the city had become audible. Surprisingly there was still a lot of movement on the top of it. Obviously something up there still had plenty of energy. The likely culprit was some sort of monster that had settled in. The golem density simply became too much in the last quarter of their trip, and that was when the war began.

It began with a hushed call. One golem that died too slowly. Then there were hundreds. Spider and crablike golems charged suicidally into the dust cloud and then toppled over onto one another corroding. But then there were thousands, and killing them stopped being the goal. They didn’t have to attack them to kill them. The thousands of golems simply threw their bodies at the pair.

Mel called out to Tony “From your left.” As a golem that had managed to build up a margin of speed threw its body at the dwarf. Tony moved out of the way of the blow, desperately dodging attacks from all sides. Mel’s cloak and TC kept him safe.

TC screeched from behind him, and Mel threw himself to the left. A bit of the golem nearly clipped him before his cloak redirected it slightly. It wasn’t perfect, but it increased his margin for error massively. Tony on the other hand had the benefit of being tough as stone. Literally. Occasionally when one got too close, the dwarf would simply punch through its weakened carapace.

“This is terrifying!” Mel shouted, while ducking under the kamikaze charge of another golem. It slammed into another golem in midair, one of it’s pointy legs winding up through Tony’s leg. Mel panicked. Tony was literally his ticket out of here, his banner of safety. And also his friend. Mel sprinted forward, desperately keeping his footing, before screaming “Get on my back! I’ll carry you!”

The dwarf didn’t seem to hear, looking down at his leg in utter defeat. “You can’t carry me, I’ll kill you.” He said as his blood began to melt the metal rod in his leg. So his blood was literally hot. That was a conundrum for a man without a magic cloak though. Then he remembered that the dwarf had an actively bleeding wound the size of Mel’s fist. So he had three different time limits. Wonderful.

Mel went to pick the dwarf up before realizing there were two reasons he would die from carrying Tony. He was heavy. Like a boulder the size of a man heavy. Made sense thinking about it. Golems screeched and died, TC chirped a warning, and Mel summoned desperation up.

Tony looked at him glumly. “Go back, I can distract them for you. Tell my Carver I love him. By letter. Otherwise he might kill you.”

Mel stared incredulously at the dwarf. “Are you mad? Hop on, I can do this.” He might not be able to lift him, but he could probably walk with him on his back. Tony looked up at him, before painfully using one leg to hop unto his back.

It felt like he was being crushed, but Mel started walking and it slowly began to become easier. It felt like a gentle flow of strength washed in alongside terror. Adrenaline, magic, or the fruit of his journey? Whatever the source, he marched on. He had an hour’s walk before, but now it would certainly be three. If he could last that long. Tony moved around on his back, inducing pain in both of them. The blood from his wound burned Mel, but it was bearable. The weight ground away at his stamina and will, both he found in short supply in minutes, let alone hours.

Each step took energy he didn’t have. Tony kept telling him to give up, as unhelpful as he could possibly be. The golems were unrelenting. A golem threw itself at the duo, giving up it’s artificial animation in exchange for a chance that it’s corpse would even mildly inconvenience them. He was uncertain if he was even moving. But he kept taking steps. He wouldn’t call it walking. It wasn’t nearly smooth and regular enough. Tony had taken some medicine and mumbled something about being a fool.

“I can’t do this.” He admitted. Every moment was a moment he was certain he was going to die. And yet he took another step. On and on. Step after step. When he glanced up and saw the city above him, he burst into tears.

He pulled out the magic rope that Tony had made himself for one purpose. It flung itself upwards at the city, and after securing itself formed a harness around the two of them and dragged them up. Mel rolled onto his back, shoving Tony away from the edge. Then he laid there. Tony was probably dying a few feet to his left, but Mel couldn’t breathe.

He would get up and help him in a moment. In just a moment.